Coating machine



Oct. 28, 1941. o. E. SEGRIN COATING MACHINE Filed Feb. 8, 1940 5 Sheets-Sheet l .Oct. 28, 1941. o. E. SEGRIN 2,260,686

comma MACHINE Filed Feb. 8, 1940 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Oct. 28, 1941. o. E. SEGRIN COATING MACHINE Filed Feb. 8, 1940 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Oct. 28, 1941. o. E. SEGRIN comma MACHINE Filed Feb. 8, 1940 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 Oct. 28, 1941.

o. E. SEGRIN 2,260,686

COATING MACHINE 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Feb. 8, 1940 fjz deizfaz y/zaz,

Patentedoct. 28,

COATING MACHINE Oscar E. Serrln. Chicago, 111., assigno'r to Savage fi-rrlompany, Chicago, 111., a corporationof Application February a, 1940,8erial No. 317,915

12Claims.

This invention relates to a coating machine, and more particularly to that character of ma- I chine which is used to apply acoating, such as an icing, frosting, etc., to edible articles, such as cakes, cookies, confections, and various other bakery goods. Theseveral coating operations hereinafter described are performed mechanically, without the aid of human hands, so that sanitary conditions are perfectly maintained.

. One of the objects of the present invention is to provide a, novel coating machine capable of applying different types of coating material .to

.the edible articles treated'by the machine; an-

other object isto provide'a coating machine for applyingiicing or other 'fllling material between the layers of layer cakes, or the ,sandwich type of cookies or confections; and another object is to provide a coating machine having means for applying a coating to the under side of an article, then superposing the under-coated article upon a second article which is uncoated, and finally coating the entire top and sides of the duplex article, these operations being carried out in continuous succession.

Other objects and advantages will appear in the course of this specification, and with all of said objects and advantages in .view, this invention consists in the several novel features of construction, arrangement and combination of parts hereinafter fully set forth and claimed.

One embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the drawings which accompany this specification, in which- Figure 1 is a view; partly in plan and partly in horizontal section, of a coating machine forming the'subject matter of this specification, the line of section being indicated at ll in Figs. 3 and 4;

Fig. 2 is a vertical cross section taken on line 22 of Fig. 1; I

Fig. 3 is a vertical longitudinal section taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a vertical longitudinal section taken on line 44 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a fragment of a. conveyor which is employed'for conveying the articles to be coatedthrough the machine;

Fig. 6 is a fragmental vertical cross section taken on line 6-'6 of Fig. '7; and

Fig. 7 is a side elevation of transfer mechanism forming a part of the machine and showing the same attached to a fragment of the frame of the machine.

Briefly, the coating machine embodies mechanism including a link conveyor arranged to receive edible articles and to convey'them past a coating applicator, such as a roll which is partially submergedin the coating material, the

roll acting to apply the material through the "conveyor openings upon the under side of the articles. Associated with this jmechanism is a .second conveyor for conveying edible articles underneath a coating applicator, from which coating material is applied to the top and sides of the articles.

Either of the two coating mechanisms mentioned may be used independentlyof the other, but as a preference means are provided for feeding uncoated articles to a station where the under-coated articles are placed upon the uncoated ones, to form layer cakes or cookies of the sandwich type. These plural layer articles may be manually transferred from the first named coating mechanism to the second one, but as a preference transfer mechanism is provided for automatically transferring the plural layer articles from one coating mechanism to the other to receive a coating deposit upon the top and sides of the plural layer articles.

Referring now to the accompanying draw;- ings, which are rather schematic and not intended as working drawings of the machine, the reference character Ill designates two upright side members of the frame of a machine, connected at their upper ends by a top member II, and connected intermediately of their upper and lower ends by a'horizontal cross member l2. 1

Supported upon the cross member I! as by channel members l3 (see Figs. 3 and 4) is a tank H within which is a reservoir l5 that contains the coating material used. As is well understood, the coating material comprises icing, frosting or filling material of various well known types. The space between the tank and reservoir provides a hot water jacket for containing a body of hot water or other heating medium, whereby the coating material may be kept at a suitable temperature for properly applying it to the articles. g

A hot water supply pipe l6 conducts the water to the hotw'ater Jacket, and a discharge pipe l1 conducts the water away therefrom. Desirably the end portions of the bottomwall of the reservoir l5 are curved upwards as at [8, so as to avoid any sharp comers in the ends of the reservoir.

If desired, only one reservoir may be provided, but in situations where it is desired to apply different types of coating material to the articles, a lengthwise extending partition I! (see Fig. 2)

located within the reservoir, is an endless conveyor 24, of open work construction and desirably composed of interlinked rods as illustrated in Fig. 5. The rollers 2|, 22. serve to maintain the upper pan; of the conveyor in a horizontal plane, and the other rollers are so arranged as to cause the conveyor to dip into the coating material and pass around the hereinafter described applicator. The roller 2| is corrugated and provides the driving means for the conveyor and moves it in-the direction of the adjacent arrow.

An applicator is provided in the reservoir l3 for applying coating material through the interstices of the conveyor to the under sides of the edible articles as they are carried past the applicator.

hits preferred form, the applicator comprises a hollow roller 23 mounted upon a shaft 23 journaled in bearings carried by the side walls of the reservoir i3 and driven by suitable driving means to rotate in the direction of the arrow (see Fig. 3), but at a greater rate of speed than the speed of travel of the conveyor 24. The roller 23 is located in close proximity to the under side of the upper part of the conveyor 24, and during its rotation it carries coating material upon its cylindrical surface and applies it through the interstices of the conveyor 2| upon the under sides of the articles conveyed thereby.

Desirably a bailie or scraper 21 is provided adjacent the roller 25, as shown in Fig. 3, which baflie serves to remove excess coating material from the roller and also serves to prevent the roller from throwing the coating material into the space above the tank. The bame may be supported from some stationary portion of the machine. Suitable scrapers 23 are provided adjacent the rolls 22 to remove any coating material that may adhere thereto.

Above the conveyor 24, guide rails 29 (see Fig. 1), supported from the framework of the machine, are provided to guide the edible articles from the receiving station of the machine to a transfer station.

Desirably an auxiliary conveyor 33 (see Figs. 1 and 3) is provided for feeding the articles to the conveyor 24. The conveyor 33 is trained around rollers 3|, 32, with its upper part in hori-' zontal alignment with the upper part of the conveyor 24. The rollers-3| are rotatably mounted in side frame members III- which project beyond the main frame of the machine. Both conveyors may be provided with equidistantly spaced flexible or yieldable spacers 33, which act as guides against which the edible articles are placed so as to space them equidistantly, the purpose of which will be hereinafter fully set forth. In the reservoir ii are rotating drum-like stirrers 34, 34 34', which serve to agitate the coating material and prevent any portion thereof from adhering to the walls of the reservoir. This is desirable on account of the heat which is conducted from the hot water jacket to the walls of the reservoir. The drum-like stirrers are mounted upon shafts joumalled in bearings mounted on the side walls of the reservoir and are driven by driving mechanism to be hereinafter described. At one side of the coating mechanism described is a mechanism for applying coating to the top and sides of edible articles and which may be used in conjunction with the coating mechanism previously described.

Referring now to Figs. 1, 2 and 4, a conveyor 33 will be seen, which is trained over rollers 33, 31, rotatably mounted in bearings carried by adjacent frame members of the machine. The conveyor may be of the same type as that heretofore described, so as to permi any 886688 fi ing material to fall-through the interstices of the conveyor. The corrugated driving roller 33 for the conveyor 33 is located a slight distance beyond one end of the main frame of the machine, and is partially submerged in a tank 33, containing water, whereby any coating material adhering to the conveyor 33 may be washed therefrom when passing through the bath in the tank.

A receptacle or other container 33, carried by the frame members 43, serves to catch any drippings from the conveyor 33, while passing thereabove. This conveyor travels over the reservoir l3, above which an applicator for applying the coating material to the top and sides of the articles is located. As shown, the means for applying the coating material to the top and sides of the articles comprises a trough-like applicator 4|, adiustably supported from the top member ll of the frame by rods 42. The applicator 4| contains a supply of the coating material, and in its lower edge are longitudinally extendingslots 43 through which the material may be discharged in the form of sheets upon the articles as they are being conveyed underneath the applicator. For replenishing the supply in the applicator as it is being discharged therefrom, the machine is provided with piping 44 leading from the bottom reservoir l3- to the inlet. side of a motor driven pump 45, and with piping 43 leading from the discharge side of said pump to the applicator 4|. The pump and its motor may be mounted upon one of the side frames of the machine.

Desirably means are provided for blowing a stream of air upon the coated articles in order to insure a uniform distribution of the coating material thereon, and as shown said means comprise a nozzle 41 of elongated form and having a narrow slit in its lower end. The nozzle is mounted a short distance above the plane which is traversed by the coated articles, and is directed downward so that the air'will be directed upon the tops and sides of the coated articles as they pass underneath the nozzle. A motor driven blower 43 is mounted upon the top member I of the frame and is connected to said nomle by an air conduit 43. As the coated articles pass the nozzle, the stream of air issuing therefrom serves to spread the coating uniformly over the surface of the article, and in case any places on the sides thereof have not been covered by the coating material issuing from the applicator, the stream of air serves to spread the coating material over any such uncoated parts of. the article. Any excess of coating material drips through the conveyor into the reservoir I5.

Desirably an auxiliary conveyor 30 for discharging the coated articles from the machine is provided. Said conveyor is trained around rollers 32, 32, rotatably mounted in bearings carried by the side framemembers 40, the upper rollers 32' serving to carry the upper part of the conveyor in horizontal alignment with the upper part of the conveyor 33. Desirably a tank 33 is provided for containing water in which the roller 32. is partially submerged. Any coating material that may cling to the conveyor 50 is washed ofl while passing through the bath in the tank 33.

The conveyors 33, II, are driven by a suitable driving mechanism, as will be hereinafter described Within the-reservoir II are rotating drum-like: stirrers II, which are mounted in bearings car-' ried by thewalls of the reservoir.' Said stirrers act to agitate thecoating material contained in f the reservoir II for the purpose of preventing filling material from remaining quiescent on the surface of the hot bottom of the reservoir and becoming overheated. A drain pipe it leads down from each reservoir, through which unused v itate depositing or are provided for feeding uncoated articles tothe under coated ones, together with means to superimpose the under coated articles upon the uncoated ones, and means to transfer the plural articles to the conveyor of the top and side coating mechanism above described.

In the embodiment of the feed mechanism illustrated, a conveyor or feed belt 80 is employed, which is preferably; located at a higher level than the conveyor 24. The belt 60 is desirably formed of the same linked rod construction as the other conveyors, and it is trained around rollers ii, 62, 63, rotatably mounted in bearings carried by the frame work of the machine. The corrugated roller 6| is the driving element for the belt 6!, and drives it. in the direction of the adjacent arrow at thesa'me speed as that of the conveyor 24.

The feed belt 60, like the conveyor 24, is provided with equidistant spacers 33, which may be of any desirable form and serve as indicators to aid the attendant in placing the articles in colddistantly spaced relation on the belt 60, besides serving as stops for preventing the articles from being accidentally shifted out of their spaced relation to each other.

' Supported by the frame work of the machine,

I as by a bracket to, is a chute 64, which extends from the discharge end of the belt 60 to a transfer station adjacent the discharge end of the conveyor 24 (see Figs. 1, 3 and 6). Adjacent the belt 60 the receiving end of the chute extends in nism is employed separately or when it desired to manually transfer the articles from one coacting mechanism to the other.

When the transfer mechanism is used, the belt 6 extends transversely from the transfer station at the discharge end of the conveyor 24 to a position above the receiving end of the conveyor .35 of the top and side coating mechanism (see Fig. 6), and serves to transfer plural layer articles from the transfer station to the conveyor belt 35. Desirably a chute or slide ll may be provided at the discharge end ofthe belt 38 to facilsliding the articles upon the conveyor-'33.

In order to superimpose anundercoated'article upon an uncoated one so as tobring the icing or filling material between the layers, an uncoated article is first deposited uponthe transfer element' at the transfer station and subsequently an undercoated article is placed thereupon, bringing the icing or filling between the two layers.

In the embodiment of the invention illustrated,

' this result is accomplished as follows: The conthe same general direction as the belt, but in an inclined plane, and its discharge end describes an arc of a circle of about ninety degrees,with the edge of the chute over which the articles are discharged extending parallel with the conveyor 24. One edge of the chute is provided with an upstanding curved flange 65 which guides the direction of movement of the articles from the belt to the transfer station.

Extending transversely of the'machine, from a place adjacent the discharge of the conveyor 24,

in a plane somewhat below the plane traversed by the under coated articles, is the transfer element of the transfer mechanism, that serves to transfer plural layer articles to the conveyor 24 of the top and side coating mechanism. Said transfer element is illustrated in the form of a belt 56, desirably of the same construction as the other conveyors. The belt is trained around rollers 61, 68, rotatively mounted in bearings carried by an auxiliary frame 69, which is removably attached to the side members ill of the main frame of the machine, as by bolts and nuts Hi. If desired, the auxiliary frame 69, and the mechanism carried thereby, may be disconnected from the frame which carries the coating. mechanism.

roller mounted on the arm 15.

veyor 24 and belt 63 travel at the same speed,-

and the spacers 33, 33" on the conveyor 24 and belt 6. respectively, are so located relative to each other that'the belt discharges an uncoated article at the transfer station in time to lodge upon the belt 3, below the plane traversed by the undercoated articles, before the conveyor 24 discharges an undercoated article at the transfer station. The uncoated article at the transfer station lies in a plane below the plane in which the undercoated'article travels, and a reciprocating fork 12 is provided for carrying the undercoated article from the conveyor 24 .across and above the uncoated article, so that the icing or other filling on its under side 'shall not be disturbed.

As shown, the fork has two straight tines 12,

I barbed at their pointed ends and disposed in a plane coincident with the plane traversed by the undercoated article, and having means for projectin'g the tines into the undercoated articles as they are being discharged from theconveyor'24.

The two tines of thefork are slidably mounted in ears 13 carried by the frame 69, and their rear ends are secured in a cross bar 14, which is connected to an oscillatory arm 15 by a link 16. The arm 15 is fulcrumed cm the frame 69 as at TI, and is oscillated in timed relation to the movement of the conveyor 24 to project the tines of the fork into the undercoated article as it is being discharged from the conveyor 24. The actuating means shown comprises a cam 18, mounted on a shaft 19 journaled. in bearings carried by the frame 69, and having a face which engages a A coiled spring III, which is attached to the arm 15 and frame 69, serves to swing the arm in one direction with the roller 80 held in contact with the cam.

The face of the cam comprises a low part 82, I

whichlimits the forward movement of the fork into the undercoated article; a cam face 83 which acts to swing the arm Iiback and connects the low place 82 with a high place 84 which is concentric with'the axes of the cam; and a cam face 85 which connects the high place 84 with the low place 82. During each cycle of rotation of the cam, the cam face 83 swings the arm 15 back to the limit of its stroke, thereby retracting the fork, which has been projected into an undecorated article, and carrying said article over the uncoated article which is resting on the transfer belt. The fork is drawn back for enouah to withdraw it from the article. The concentric face 34 of the cam' is of suflicient arcuate extent to allow the fork to remain quiescent until the plural layer article has been moved beyond the path of travel of the fork, and while the roller 30 runs on the cam face 35, the spring II swings the arm I forward, thereby projecting the time of the fork into another undercoated article.

A pin or other stop 30 may be provided for stopping the uncoated articles discharging from the chute 04 so as to center them with respect to the discharging undercoated articles, and a conveyor driving roller 2I drives the latter and pin or other stop 31, supported by abracketon the frame 63, is positioned so as to stop the undercoated article, discharging from the conveyor 24, directly above the uncoated article.

Actuating means are provided for advancing the transfer belt 30 in a step by step'manner and so that it will be quiescent when an un-- coated article lodges upon it and while an undercoated article is being placed thereon. The driving means shown comprises a mutilated gear 08 on the shaft I0; a mutilated pinion 03 rotatively mounted on the frame 63 and adapted to inter-- mittently mesh with the mutilated gear 33; a

beveled pinion 90 rotatively connected with the mutilated pinion 08, and a beveled pinion 3| meshing with the pinion 30 and mounted on a shaft 92 journaled in bearings carried by the frame 30. A sprocket chain 33, trained around a sprocket wheel 34 on the shaft 32 and around a sprocket wheel 95 on the shaft 30' of the drive roller 01 for the transfer belt 55, completes the intermittently acting drive mechanism for the transfer belt. The parts just described are proportioned and timed to advance the transfer belt one step during each cycle of rotationof the cam 18 and mutilated gear 80, and thereby transfer the plural layer articles. from the transfer station to the conveyor 35 of the topand side coating mechanism. Desirably guide rails 8'! (see Fig. 1) are mounted above the conveyor 35, adjacent the receiving end thereof, as by brackets 98, and serve to align the articles on the conveyor.

The shaft I9 for the cam I8 and mutilated gear 88 is driven from a driving element of the coating mechanism, and, as shown, a sprocket wheel 99 is mounted on said shaft, over which is trained a sprocket chain I00, which is driven by a sprocket wheel I40 of the machine.

The drive mechanism for the several conveyors, belts, stirrers, and other moving parts, may be of any desirable character. For the purposes of illustration, an electric motor Ill is shown, mounted on one of the side frame members I0, and it is provided with variable speed iliary conveyor 30, through a train of gears Hi8,

I09, IIO, III. A sprocket chain H2 trained over a sprocket wheel II3 on the shaft 32 of the roller 32 and over a sprocket wheel II4 on the shaft 26 of the applicator roll 25, drives the applicator roll, and a sprocket chain "5 trained over a sprocket wheel IIB on the shaft 20 and a sprocket wheel I" on the shaft 2| of the therewith the conveyor 24.

A sprocket chain IIO trained over sprocket wheels III, I20, respectively, mounted on the shaft 2| and shaft 0| of the drive roller II, drives the latter and therewith the belt 00 at the same speed as the conveyor 24. A sprocket chain I2I trained over sprocket wheels I22, I23, respectively, mounted on the shaft and shaft of the stirrer drum' 34, drives the latter, and the stirrer drum 34 is driven from the shaft of the stirrer 34 by a sprocket chain I24 trained around sprocket wheels on the shafts of the stirrers 34, 34. The stirrer 34" is driven from the shaft I" by asprocket chain I20 trained over sprocket ,wheels on the shaft I01 and shaft of the stirrer The middle stirrer 5| is driven from the main drive shaft I03 by a sprocket chain I21 trained around sprocketflwheels I20, I23, respectively, mounted on the shaft I03 and shaft 5I. The stirrer 5] at the right (Fig. 4) is driven from the shaft 5| by a sprocket chain I30 trained over sprocket wheels I3I, 'I32, respectively, mounted on the shaft 5 I and shaft of the stirrer at the right, and the stirrer atthe left is driven from the shaft 5 I by a sprocket chain I33 trained over sprocket wheels I34, I 35 respectively mounted on the shaft 5| and the shaft I35 at the left, and over idlers I30. It will be observed that all of the stirrers rotatein the direction of the arrows thereon so as to move the coating material down along the end walls of the reservoirs and prevent it from becoming overheated.

The conveyor 35 is driven from the shaft I35 for the.sprocket wheel I35 by a sprocket chain I31 trained over a sprocket wheel I30 and a sprocket wheel I33 respectively mounted on the shaft I35 and the shaft 36 of the drive roller 33 for the conveyor. The auxiliary conveyor drive roller 52 is driven from the shaft I01 by a sprocket chain I4I trained around sprocket wheels I42, I43 respectively mounted on the shaft I01 and the shaft of the drive roller 52. The transfer mechanism is driven from the shaft 26 by a sprocket wheel I40 on the shaft 20 and the chain I 00.

The corrugated rollers for the several conveyors and belts act to positively drive the same in timed relation to each other. They act in the nature of sprocket wheels, with their ridges engaging in the spaces between the linked rodsof the conveyors.

In the operation of the machine, an attendan places uncoated articles, designated as a, b, on the conveyor 30 and belt directly in advance -of the spacers 33, 33. The conveyor 30 advances the articles a to the conveyor 24 which conveys them across the applicator 25, where icing or filling material is applied, through interstices of the conveyor, to the under sides of the articles. As each undercoated article aarrives at the discharge end of the conveyor 24, an uncoated article b has previously arrived at the transfer station in a plane below that of the article a, and the fork I2 is then projected into the discharging article a by the arm I5. This position of the parts is seen in Fig. 7. The cam I8 thereupon swings the arm I5 back, retracting the fork and drawing the article a above and across the article b, until the articles a, b are located one above the other, whereupon the tines of the fork are wholly withdrawn from the article a. At this moment the intermittent driving mechanism for the transfer belt 30 becomes effective andadvances said belt one step, carrying a plural layer article c to the receiving end "of the conveyor SI of the top and side coating mechanism (see plural layer article to the top and side coating applicator, theguide rails 91 align the plural layer article c with the others on the conveyor. As the conveyor carriesthe articles underneath the applicator 4| they pass into the sheet or sheets of coating material discharging therefrom, whereby their sides as well as the top of the uppermost article a are coated with the material, and any excesscoating material falls into the reservoir below. i Subsequently the conveyor 35 carries the coated articles 0 underneath the air applicator, and the air stream acts to uniformly spread the coating material over the top and sides of thearticle. The. air stream further serves to flow the coating into any places on the sides of the article c that may not have received coating material while passing the coating material applicator. The conveyor 35 discharges the coated articles uponthe conveyor 50 from which an attendant removes them.

y In case the transfer mechanism has been disconnected from the machine, the uncoated articles may be discharged upon a table (not shown), and an attendant may place the undercoated articles a upon the uncoated articles, and place them upon the conveyor 35.

In adapting my invention foruse in coating to overcoating thereon of the top and sides of such 81110168.

v3. In a coating machine, the combination of .two pervlous conveyors arranged to travel oppositely in parallelism, one adapted to advance a plurality of edible articles insuccession from an initial receiving to a discharge station, and the other adapted toadvance a plurality of articles in succession from a receiving station to a final discharge station, means associated with the con-' veyor leaving the initial. receiving station for app in! coating to the under sides of the articles traveling thereabove, means associated with the conveyor proceeding toward the final discharge station for applying coating to the top and sides of the articles traveling therebelow, a conveyor for conveying uncoated articles to the discharge any particular type of article and in employing Y the same for special purposes, it will be evident that various changes may be made in the form,

construction and arrangement of the ele-' ments described. In view thereof, it should be understood that the form of my invention shown in the drawings and herein described is intended for the purpose of illustrating a typical embodiment of my invention and is not intended to limit the scope thereof.

I claim:

1. In a coating machine, the combination of a reservoir for containing coating material, a rotating drum-like applicator therein for applying coating material to the under sides of edible articles, a conveyor for conveying said articles over the applicator in close proximity thereto, whereby the applicator transfers coating material from the reservoir to the under sidesof the articles,

and driving means for rotating the applicator at a greater speed than that of the conveyor.

2. In a coating machine, the combination of two pervious conveyors arranged to travel oppositely in parallelism, one adapted to advance a plurality of edible articles insuccession from an initial receiving to a discharge station, and the other adapted to.advance a plurality of articles in succession from a receiving station to a final discharge station, means associated with the conveyor leaving the initial receiving station for applying coating to the under sides of the articles traveling thereabove, means associated with the conveyor proceeding-toward the final discharge station for applying coating to the top and sides of the articles traveling therebelow, and transfer means operating in timed relation to the conveyor proceeding from the initial receiving station adapted to transfer the undercoated articles to the other conveyor preliminary station of the undercoated'articles and delivering said undercoated articles so as to lie at a plane below the plane in which the undercoated articles are dischargedwhereby the undercoated articlesare' discharged upon the uncoated ones, and transfer means operatingin timed relation to the conveyor proceeding from the initial receiving station adapted to transfer the plural layer articles to the other conveyor preliminary to overcoatim thereon of the top and sides of the plural layer articles. g

4. In a coating machine, the combination of a reservoir for containing coating material, a coating applicator therein, a conveyor traveling over said applicator in close proximity thereto, and adapted to convey edible articles past said applicator whereby the latter applies coating material to the under sides of the articles, a second conveyor, a coating applicator located thereabove for depositing coating material upon the top and sides of articles conveyed by said second named conveyor, feed mechanism for feeding uncoated articles to a transfer station adjacent the discharge end of the first named conveyor, means to carry the undercoated articles from said first mentioned conveyor and deposit them upon the uncoated articles at said transfer station, transfer mechanism for trans-' said conveyor and underneath the plane traversed by the undercoated articles, means to carry the undercoated articles from the discharge and of said conveyor and deposit them one at a time upon an uncoated article at said station, a second conveyor. a coating applicator thereabove arranged to deposit a sheet of coating material in a downward direction upon articles carried underneath the same by said second named conveyor, transfer mechanism for transferring the plural layer articles from said transfer station to said second named conveyor, and drive mechanism for synchronizing the movements of the conveyors and transfer mechanism. I

6. In a coating machine, the combination of a reservoir for containing coatingmaterial, a coating applicator therein, a conveyor traveling over said applicator in close proximity thereto, and adapted to convey edible articles past said applicator, whereby the applicator applies coating material to the under sides of the article, a belt for feeding uncoated articles in timed relation to the conveyor, a chute extending from the discharge end of the belt to a transfer station adjacent and below the discharge end of the conveyor for delivering uncoated articles to said station, and article carrying means at said transfer station for carrying undercoated articles from the conveyor and depositing them one at a time upon the uncoated articles delivered at said transfer station.

'7. In a coating machine, the combination of a reservoir for containing coating material, a coating applicator therein, a conveyor travelingover said applicator in close proximity thereto, and adapted to convey edible articles past said applicator, whereby the applicator applies coating material to the under sides of the articles, a belt for feeding uncoated articles in timed relation to the conveyor, a chute extending from the discharge end of the belt to a transfer station adjacent and below the discharge end of the conveyor, a reciprocating fork for carrying uncoated articles one at a time from the discharge end of the conveyor and depositing them upon an uncoated article at the transfer station, and means for reciprocating the fork in timed relation to the conveyor.

8. In a coating machine, the combination of a reservoir for containing coating material, an applicator therein for applying coating material to the under sides of edible articles, a conveyor for conveying said articles over the applicator in close proximity thereto, whereby the applicator applies coating material to the under sides of the articles, a belt for conveying uncoated articles, a chute for conducting the uncoated articles to a transfer station adjacent the discharge end of the conveyor, means for carrying undercoated articles one at a time from the discharge end of the conveyor, above, out of contact with,

and to an uncoated article at the station, top and side coating mechanism, and transfer mechanism for transferring plural layer articles from;

said transfer station to said top and side coating mechanism.

9. In a coating machine, the combination of a reservoir for containing coating material, an applicator therein for applying coating material to the under sides of edible articles, a conveyor for conveying said articles over the applicator in close proximity thereto, whereby the applicator applies coating material to the under sides of the articles, a belt for conveying uncoated articles, a chute for conducting the uncoated articles to a transfer station adjacent the discharge end of the conveyor, means for carrying undercoated a11- ticles one at a time from the discharge end of below the discharge end of the conveyor, a fork,

adapted to be projected into each undercoated article when discharging from said conveyor, and

to carry said article above an uncoated article at the transfer station andto deposit it thereon, and means for reciprocating said fork in timed relation to the conveyor.

11. In a coating machine, the combination of a reservoir for containing coating material, a conveyor, a coating applicator for applying coating material to edible articles carried by said conveyor, feed mechanism for delivering uncoated articles to a transfer station adjacent and below the discharge end of the conveyor, a fork adapted to be projected into each undercoated article when discharging from said conveyor and to carry said article above an uncoated article at the transfer station and to deposit it thereon, a reciprocating arm connected to said fork, and a cam having cam faces for actuating said arm.

12. In a coatingmachine, the combination of means for conveying edible article layers and means for applying a coating to one side of each of said articles, means for feeding a second group of edible article layers and delivering them each in race contact with the coated side of one of the first mentioned edible article layers to form a combined two layer edible article, an applicator for thereafter applying a coating to the topand sides of each two layer edible article, and a conveyor for conveying the two layer edible articles from the point where the constituent layers are united to a point adjacent the applicator and therefrom to the point of discharge.

OSCAR E. SEGRIN. 

